Household restrictions partly lifted to settle migrant workers

China has mapped out more detailed measures to push forward its urbanization. They include helping migrant workers better integrate into cities and improve the quality of urbanization. Wu Guoxiu has spoken to an expert on social policy, who hails the plans but predicts they’ll take years to implement. Currently there are at least 260 million migrant workers in the country's cities. But they don’t have equal access to social services, under a rigid household restriction system. There would be a change---the government has pledged to gradually integrate them into cities. Household restrictions in towns and small cities will be fully removed, but populations in mega cities will be strictly controlled.An expert only partly hailed the changes. The decision is among China’s new policies on urbanization. The country’s urbanization rate reached 52 percent last year. It was 17.9 percent in 1978 and is predicted to reach 70 percent by 2030. While rural residents move to urban areas, new cities are also mushrooming up across China. The expert says the key is to make the cities more attractive to people, instead of blindly expanding urban areas. The government has stated that urbanization is the road China must take. The new policies, are taking a more comprehensive approach--promising urbanization that is quality-based, human-centered and green. In a rare poetic style, the government says the new city dwellers should see mountains and water, while still feeling a sense of their hometown.